Wednesday, December 21, 2011

On my Facebook page, I asked friends and followers to give me the name and address of their local library so that I could send them a copy of the book. I really wanted to support local libraries, and I thought just flat-out asking would be a good idea. Turns out, people know the names of their libraries, but don't automatically go the extra distance to look up their library's contact information, so trying to get info in the comment section of a Facebook post isn't such a good idea.

To get started, I decided I should contact all the libraries first, just to make sure they actually wanted me to send them a copy of the book. (I wanted to be nice about it, you see.) But I didn't ask the Facebook people to give me their libraries' contact information, so I had to look all of that stuff up...

On Web sites that I had to search for, because I didn't tell the Facebook people that they had to give me their libraries' Web addresses either. But libraries pretty much have Web sites these days, and some of them even include a handy-dandy "Ask a Librarian" page where you can send a question to them without ever having to open your email program. So that part worked out pretty well.

While I was on the library sites, I also had to look up (and sometimes dig around, if you can believe that) for their physical mailing addresses. I kind of needed that to be able to send the books. Go figure.

But this trying-to-find-all-these-libraries'-contact-information crap is a lot more time-consuming than you might think because not all libraries have an "Ask a Librarian" page. I'm also finding out not all libraries even have contact email addresses, and two emails I sent out have already been returned as undeliverable. And from the replies I'm getting back from the libraries who did have contact information on their sites and who did take the time to reply to my request, it's looking like some of the libraries want to have a say in what they will accept for display on their shelves.

As if I'd send them something twisted or something.

So.

I'm thinking it's pretty important to ask before I send, and more importantly than that, I'm thinking I can't take all this time looking up everybody's contact information. So I've built a "Library Donation" page on the Hairy Eyeballs Press Web site with a form for anybody who wants me to send their library a book. I'm still taking requests as long as the information I need is filled out on the form.

I appreciate your enthusiasm about the book and your library, and I'm pretty sure your library appreciates your enthusiasm as well. So thanks for your support, and make your own donation today! We want them to stick around for a long, long time.